Unfortunately we had to vacate our "shared" clubhouse at Cobdown and so in March 2014 we became a club with a large layout and no premises - not a good combination !
Hence the lack of posts.... but that has now changed.

The entire layout was stored Thanks to Richard in his garage while a new clubhouse was found. Anyone having gone through this experience will know that this is easier said than done.
Ideally we were looking for a site that was central to our membership, secure, cost effective and hopefully able to accomodate the entire 36ft layout.

Many of the more traditional village halls or community centres require that the room be left empty and storage would once again be an issue. Finding a suiteable accomodation was a nightmare but finally we stumbled on old railway buildings. For many people this may be a route you wish to explore if faced with a similar situation.

During the searching process, we were offered Eridge Station as a potential site for our new clubroom, the attraction of modelling Eridge at Eridge with all the possible research on your doorstep being a big advantage. However the distance between members and the site and the disadvantage of not being able to errect the entire layout swiftly crossed this off the list. We looked at several Network South East Old disused Stations along the Medway line. Each had a draw back but any room was better than none. Finally we came across Yalding Station, after an intital survey we found it best suited our requirements but had one hurdle to overcome. Another party was already interested as a commercial "going concern" in the form of a coffee house. This put us firmly at the bottom of the list. I remember this as being a frustrating time, when we all would have moved Eridge in immediately.

What followed seemed to take an eternity but finally after waiting for the other party to fall by the wayside and legal contracts to be exchanged we finally took possesion of Yalding Station in March 2016.

The station building had been un-occupied for quite a length of time and it was decided to take some time to brighten the environment up with a splash of paint etc. In total this took 3 months, largely down to plastering walls and It was at times a labour of love but thankfully the club rooms were complete and a delightful environment to have as a clubroom. The building also has one major advantage over others we looked at in that it allows the entire layout 24 ft plus two 6ft fiddle yards to be left permantely erect. Added as a bonus is that we have the ability now to house a seperate area to work on items "off the layout" with adequate workbench and lighting.

Some Pictures of The Building The Day We Got The Keys

"Good Things Come To Those That Wait."

Pictures Post Refurbishment

In June 2016 after 2 years in "storage" we finally moved Eridge Layout into Yalding Station - Happy Times. To all our amazements the layout had remained very stable and had sustained very little storage damage. Several Running sessions later and we are now back to meeting on a Thursday evening. The P4 Kent Area Group also opened the doors to the Scalefour Society for a Mini Exhibition/Running Day which was a landmark achievement given the circumstances. We thank all those that attended.

Now that we are back up and running I hope to keep the modelling fraternity on RMWeb up to date with our Progress, this post is merely here to show we have not vanished off the face of the earth